Sun Kissed
by BOL
Summary: Too many stories feature Riders, why isn't there as much love for the Dragons? This story will feature on what happens when Riders turn their backs, specifically one familiar group of dragons, Toothless, Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf, Belch and Meatlug. Toothless x Stormfly.
1. Love and Fish

So after watching HTTYD2 and going online I noticed a rather distinct lack of Toothless and Stormfly stories, so I intend to rectify that. Obviously, the Dragons will be speaking because I'm not in the mood to write a silent film noir, and as usual, blah blah blah, legal disclaimers, blah blah blah blah blah. With that out of the way might I cordially invite you to read the first chapter of this little story of my own.

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><p>"So, first question."<p>

Toothless lay on his back, perched precariously on the roof, his lazy, half-shut eyes gliding across the cloud-dappled sky. A weak gust plucked at his scales and stung his eyes slightly. He said nonchalantly, "Shoot."

"Favourite colour."

"Red if I'm happy, Black if I'm not."

"Favourite food."

"You know that weird red little fish? The one with the pink flesh?"

"Salmon? Okay, favourite two-legs."

"Hiccup, that's a given."

"Favourite Dragon?"

Toothless opened his jaws as the name hung on his tongue then shut them quickly. He rolled over and faced the asker, a crimson Monstrous Nightmare who was curled around a wooden figurehead nailed to the roof. As the black barbs along the Nightmare's length carved white scratches into the wood and he puffed out a few clouds of fire in boredom, Hookfang asked, "So? Who is it? Could it be the very handsome, mysterious and dangerous Monstrous Nightmare before you?"

Toothless made a retching gesture over the side of the roof and the Nightmare gave a rumbling chuckle. "So not me? Fine, who is it?"

Hiccup was away doing whatever two-legs do in their free time, scurrying about on their weedy little stick-legs, giving Toothless more free time than he'd like. It seems Hookfang's rider was also busy, flexing those tiny sinews in his arms at female two-legs, so he'd found Toothless here, on the roof of Hiccup's house, and they were finding times to waste their time.

"It's Stormfly ain't it?" Hookfang hissed teasingly, smoke trailing from the corners of his jaws.

The name obviously struck a chord in Toothless. They'd been friends for years since Hiccup had freed the few of them and taken down the Red Death. Toothless scoffed in shock. "Hah! That's just crazy, as if I'd ever… no, just no. She's my friend!"

"It is her!" he exclaimed, his snarl turning a few heads of passing two-legs below. Hookfang loomed closer and grinned, revealing double rows of needle teeth. He glanced both sides to make sure there was no one eavesdropping, before asking, "Does she know?"

Toothless rolled his eyes and pushed Hookfang away with a claw. "I told you, she's my friend. _Friend_! You deaf as well as stupid?"

Hookfang didn't seem to care. As Toothless pretended to inspect his jet black wings, he inched closer. "Have you made a move yet? You see, always make the first move! The ladies love a guy with confidence."

Toothless smirked, "I'm sure you have a _lot_ of experience with the ladies."

"You bet! Look at this one over here," he raised his wing to show a scar along his side. "From a smokey Sand Wraith, this lo-o-ong one here is from a Timberjack, these two are from a Hideous Zippleback, trust me, she was anything but Hideous, both heads got bitey though, and this one from a Stormcutter, it goes all the way down to my-"

"I get the image." Toothless shook his head, trying to clear his mind of it immediately thereafter. "Did you do anything besides get bitten by them?"

As he chuckled at his own joke, Hookfang said, "Ha ha, joke all you want, but in all seriousness, if you want to make a move you better make it fast."

Toothless kept silent as Hookfang cleaned his claws as he spoke. "We won't be young forever, you know? We're two handsome young bachelors, me at least, and Stormfly's a cute lass. She's a bit younger than you and me so she must be nearly sixteen, you know what that means."

He pretended not to and Hookfang sighed in exasperation, "Let's just say if you don't catch the fish, there'll be a queue at the river when you get back.

Another wind blew through Berk, carrying with it the taste of salt water. Toothless licked his lips, tasting the tang of the sea. He sighed, "Maybe you're right." He looked down at the two-legs fretting about their petty lives in the grass below. "But even if I do say something, will it even work? I mean she's a Nadder, I'm a Nightfury, and what if things get awkward? What do I- are you even listening?"

Hookfang was smiling stupidly now, smoke streaming from his nostrils and a hint of something burning. "So you do like her!"

"Argh! This is useless!"

He gave a cackling laugh, before breathing deep to catch his breath and saying, "Well, if you want my advice- don't make that face, I know you need my wisdom- go out there right now. Like, seriously right now, go up to her, ground her for awhile and bring her somewhere nice and quiet, have a bit 'o chat, maybe share a fish or two, and here's the trick."

Toothless watched, intrigued, as Hookfang curled around the figurehead again. "Pretend I'm you and this wooden thing is Stormfly. When you feel the time is right, you take her, make her look you in the eye like so." Hookfang locked eyes with the figurehead. "You look deep into her eyes- the window to their souls you know- and then while she's laughing awkwardly trying to figure out what you're doing, you lean in close, and tell her that you don't want her to struggle too much. Then you take her, push her down against the ground, and then you-"

"GODS DAMMIT DOES EVERYTHING YOU SAY HAVE TO END LIKE THAT?"

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><p><em>Stupid, stupid, stupid. <em>

Toothless was currently on a cliff face where the green grass and moss faded to sun drenched grey stone. On the edge of the sheer drop off, maybe eight or ten metres in front of him was a Dragon, a very particular Dragon. Her viridian blue scaled back was turned to Toothless, her orange striped figure writhing as she swallowed huge fish from a cracked open barrel whole.

Toothless growled to himself, _Stupid, stupid_. He glanced back and saw the edge of the two-legs' buildings some distance away, Hookfang perched luxuriously upon a rooftop as he watched Toothless with anticipation. He cursed himself as he turned back to face Stormfly. He should have never agreed to this.

He could imagine Hookfang shaking with laughter as he watched at a safe distance. His mind couldn't stop worrying about what he was going to do. _What if she thinks I'm being weird? What if things get uncomfortable? What if I ruin our friendship? Damn, this is a really bad idea._

He shifted on his claws, unsure, the damp grass and stones shuffling silently underfoot. _I should just go now, Hookfang'll just laugh at me a while but at least I won't have to do this. I just need to leave before she realises I was ever here. _

As he began to turn the wet stone scrunches under his claws, making him cringe. Stormfly looked back in surprise, her eyes lighting up. "Toothless! I didn't notice you there, come on, Astrid got me this."

Toothless wanted to curse his luck and fly away without looking back, instead he plastered a grin onto his face and forced out the words, "Sure! What is it?" It was too late to go back now. Hookfang was probably laughing his scales off.

Stormfly scooted over to the side to make space for Toothless on the narrow granite cliff. She had before her a giant barrel on its side, the planks on one side torn open to reveal its contents, fish, glorious, fat silver and black fish, so much that they spilled out onto the granite.

Stormfly was escatatic, her eyes filled with joy and her voice high and chippering today. "Astrid got me this! She rolled out this whole barrel from the, oh what do they call them? Larders? Anyways, she rolled it all the way out for me! These humans are so weird, they keep their fish inside these wooden shells for weeks instead of just eating them right then!"

Toothless noticed how the way she cocked her head cutely from side to side when she was talking. Her scales were a soft, cool blue like the sea she faced, those around her eyes were a beautiful shade of crimson, more like a wild flower than Hookfang's bloody tone, the colour accenting the deep, rich yellow of her eyes.

"So?"

Toothless shook himself out of his daydream. He saw Stormfly brimming with excitement as she faced him, a fat fish in her jaws. She tried to smile around the fish in her mouth, making her look very funny. "Come on! Try some!"

"Uh, no thanks," he smiled back sheepishly. "I uh, already ate."

He hadn't really but the fish was her's anyway.

Stormfly's smile just got wider. She scooted closer, nodding towards Toothless, the fish flopping between her teeth. "Come on! Just one won't hurt." She cocked her head again and shook the fish slightly, making its fat silver body wobble. "Look how juicy and fat that is, don't you want to just eat that right up?"

Her eyes looked at him imploringly, it was almost as if she was trying to pull off that doll eyed beg-stare, and she pulled it off quite well. Complete with the slightly watery eyes and quivering bottom jaw, which made the fish wobble in her mouth amusingly. Toothless stifiled his laughter and laughed nervously, "Oh wow, it's almost Sunset, I should be going now, Hiccup said he needed some help with something and I should reall-"

"Don't make me beg!" Stormfly exclaimed, jerking the fish in her mouth towards him. "I'll beg, I swear!"

That fish did actually look very tasty, it was inches from him but so was Stormfly's smiling face. He chuckled nervously, backing up as she leaned in some more. "I should probably be going now."

"Argh! This is going nowhere! Just open your mouth."

"Wha-"

"Open your mouth!" she snarled.

"Yes ma'am." Toothless propped his jaws open obediently. Stormfly leaned in even closer, he could feel the heat coming off her body, a few of her spines actually scraped against his scales. She opened her jaws and the fish slid smoothly from her mouth into his.

That had been so unexpected he'd nearly spat the fish out. Stormfly sat back and smiled triumphantly. "Have you forgotten how to chew? Or are you really toothless in there?"

The fish nearly slid out of his mouth as it hung open in surprise at what she'd just done. He slowly shut his mouth over the fish, sliding it down his throat. It was so fat it nearly got stuck.

She continued with her meal as if nothing had happened, gorging herself on more fish. She noticed Toothless staring and asked, "What? Aren't you going to eat?"

"Did you really just…"

Stormfly cocked her head cutely and sighed, "Don't tell me I have to feed you again."

Toothless shrugged and opened his mouth back open. "Well... I wouldn't mind."

She laughed and bumped his shoulder playfully.

He wasn't altogether comfortable with her yet, but he did sit a little closer to her as they ate.

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><p>So, that's <em>chapitre un<em>, leave a review on what you thought, how I can improve this story of mine, and until the next chapter, _au_ _revoir, mes amis_!


	2. Lessons on Lady Problems

So... second chapter... this is the part where I usually have a foreword or Author's note... but, yeah... just read the story_ mes amis _and leave a review on what you think.

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><p>"Rule number one, you can't care!"<p>

Toothless was lying on the grass watching Hookfang attentively. The Monstrous Nightmare had been amazed, to say the least, at what Stormfly had done. They'd gone out here, to the great forests in the South of Berk, where they were in relative privacy. Still roars echoed out across the island and the odd Dragon flew overhead.

Hookfang had found a nice clearing, complete with a stream flowing out from between two bleached boulders and a rotten tree with white brittle bark that he used as a diorama of Stormfly in his wise teachings.

"You have to remember, love is an art. But so is War! And I'm sure you know who your opponent is." Hookfang strutted across the clearing, chest puffed out, head held high and spines trussed up. "Don't listen to those fools who say it depends on what's inside, their '_beautiful personality_', well they're wrong!"

Toothless flinched as Hookfang clutched a fallen log in his claws, splintering it. "No matter how nice she is, she _will_ judge you on what you look like! You have to look like you don't care, that you're sexy without effort, you got 'ta got the CONFIDENCE! Chest out, wings spread slightly, chin high! Come on, walk over to her."

Hookfang gestured to the rotten tree. Toothless got up, slightly uncomfortable, and tried to mimick the way the Nightmare had strutted about just now. _Chest out_. Check. _Wings spread slightly._ Check. _Chin high. _Check.

As he swaggered across the clearing to the rotten tree Hookfang commanded, "Swish that tail side to side, show her that she has to make you want her! You won't fall for her like a dying tree! She has to work for you!"

"I'm not sure that's the best way to-"

"Quiet! Now imagine that this dying tree here is her, now I want you to walk the rest of the way, nice and slow."

Toothless tried, he really did, but he just wasn't feeling it. Maybe it was holding his breath too long to puff his chest, maybe it was the disturbing image of a rotten tree as Stormfly. He sighed, sitting back down on the tall grass and flattening it, "I just can't! This just isn't me!"

Hookfang wrapped his wing-arms around his head. He gritted his fangs and growled, "What's not working? It always works for me!"

"I always thought your stories sounded a little weird, considering how your advice always ends with me trying to ra-"

"Maybe you're too short. It's hard to give off confident vibes when you're shorter than her."

Another shape flew overhead, the umpteenth in the past hour. But this shape didn't keep on flying, instead it began to descend in tight, controlled spirals. Toothless glanced up at the Dragon, the light of the sun behind it, it was a Gronckle, one that they both knew well.

"Hey, boys! I was wondering where you lot were," Meatlug called out as she alighted heavily on the ground.

As she waddled over, Toothless called back, "Meatlug! Why're you here?"

"Ah, just wanted to tell you two that they're breaking out the tuna back at the two-legs big house, not the small tuna either." She eyed the two of them suspiciously. "But why're you two out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Oh Hookfang was just-"

Hookfang stepped in, pushing Toothless aside. "_I_ was just educating our hopelessly naïve friend here about the finer arts of love."

Toothless poked out his head from behind. "He was helping me with girl problems."

Hookfang shot out a puff of smoke at a nonchalant Meatlug, annoying her. She raised an eyebrow. "So you were taking relationship advice from Hookfang?"

"Yes," Hookfang answered before Toothless could.

"Well, 'hun, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry."

She tapped Hookfang's skull with her clubbed tail and made him recoil and back away as she walked over to Toothless. Meatlug lay down next to the stream and tapped her tail against the grass next to her. "Come on over here, 'hun, take a seat and we'll get you some _real_ help."

Hookfang repeated her words in a warbly tone but she ignored him. Toothless lay down next to her and Meatlug began, "So, it's Stormfly isn't it?"

"No!"

"Yes, he's hopelessly in love with her."

"You're not helping!"

"I guessed it long ago," Meatlug said. "Don't eyeball me like that, boy. It's obvious really, the way your ears just perk up whenever she opens her mouth."

He flattened his ears and grumbled, "My ears do _not_ perk up."

"And how your eyes just pop open and how you look at her when you think no one's looking. Shush, no interrupting, now tell me, what's on your mind."

Hookfang hissed teasingly, "Stormfly fed him fish!"

Toothless wanted to protest but Meatlug hit his tail with her clubbed one. "Is this true?"

"…it was just one fish."

"So what kind of feeding was this? Did she just push it to you or did was her mouth right inside your's."

"Hah! Second one for sure, you should've seen them, it was almost like they were trying to eat each other, their tongues were in each other's mouth and they were like lying on top of each other. It was hot at first then it got gross then it was hot again."

"He's lying, she just kinda made me open my mouth then slid the fish in."

Meatlug nodded thoughtfully. "So she made the first move?"

"Uh, I guess so?"

"Because of my advice! She saw you doing what I told you and she couldn't help herself!"

She sighed, "Fang, I'm sorry but most of the time your advice ends up with you rapi-, nevermind. Listen up close, 'hun."

Toothless leaned in as Meatlug said, "The best thing you can do now is be yourself, the Toothless we all love. This Toothless is the one she knows best, you don't want to make her get to know someone completely new, just work from where you are with what you started with, m'kay?"

"Yeah, I guess so, but what do I do around her? How do I act? What do I talk about or don't?"

"Just let it happen, dear, if you be yourself, the free, fun-loving and curious little honey, and stop over thinking things then it will all work, trust me."

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><p>When they got back just about every Dragon was gathered along the arched rooftops, jostling for space, many more circled overhead, hundreds of colours and breeds, spines and fins and claws poking out everywhere. There were ships anchored down at the docks and seven huge carts laden with giant tuna being wheeled through the street to the Great Hall where the larders were. The two-legs pushing the carts were slightly annoyed by the huge numbers of dragons divebombing their cargo. They would have to give up maybe two carts of tuna before they managed to get back into the larder.<p>

Toothless joined the rainbow cloud of Dragons gliding over the arched rooftops and huts. Hookfang whispered, grinning, "Remember what I said, brother, confidence! Devil may care! Proud, aloof, and please try to look taller."

He pulled to the side and wheeled away, probably going to find Snotlout or steal some tuna for himself. Meatlug sighed and shook her head sadly. She reminded, "Be yourself, 'hun, and it'll work out."

And with that she disappeared into the cloud of Dragons. Toothless exhaled as he followed the tide of soaring Dragons, circling slowly. _Natural. Be yourself, she likes _you_, so be _you_. _

He searched the rooftops, she'd probably be perched on her Rider's home. He remembered where most of the houses were by heart, Astrid's one was up on the ridge, West of Hiccup's.

_There!_ She was perched on the roof of Astrid's house, surrounded by a cohort of other Dragons all watching the tuna carts hungrily. Stormfly couldn't see him, there was an empty spot next to her, miraculously, it seemed to call to him, beckoning him to land next to her.

Toothless veered off towards Astrid's house, psyching himself up. He could already feel the smile sliding across his face as he whistled closer through the air. _This is going to work, I can feel it, today it's all just going to click together. _He could feel his heart rising, a feeling in his chest that was almost painful but felt so good.

Then a Dragon alighted next to her, making Toothless' heart sink. It was a Deadly Nadder like Stormfly, larger, with a huge tuna in its jaws. Then it turned to Stormfly and promptly fed her the fish.

Toothless didn't know what to feel as he watched. Stormfly swallowed the tuna whole and then pushed her head against the underside of the Nadder's chin, squeezing herself against him and burrowing into his embrace.

He missed a wing beat as he began to comprehend what he was looking at, trying to place what he should be feeling. Then the emotions came in a painful torrent, tearing at his heart strings. He tucked his wings in and dived.

Toothless' wings spread before he struck the ground, forcing him upwards. He glided a metre above the ground, two-legs ducking and screaming as his wings sliced the air over their cowering heads. He wanted to kill them all, he wanted to spit his fire upon them and watch them scream and burn.

His body crashed through the doors to Hiccup's house. As they swung shut behind him they blotted out the noises of screeching, of roaring, of Dragons. It was pitch black in there, Hiccup wasn't home, but frankly Toothless couldn't care less.

_Hookfang was right. _He pushed his head against the floor planks, whimpering to himself. _I should've done something sooner, I should've… I should've…_

_But I didn't._

He raised his head and curled up tightly on the ground, trying to shut out the word as he buried his eyes in his black scales. There was only one reason why he didn't do it earlier, why he was here now, why he wasn't next to her. That answer, that one word, kept on hissing in his ears.

_Coward._

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><p>Well, no one said this had to be roses and butterflies all the way. How interesting can a story really be without some... complications? Leave a review about what you thought and until the next chapter, <em>au revoir<em>.


	3. Failed Introductions

This'll be a shorter chapter, the next one should be out in a few hours. I'm not really good at this foreword stuff so just read or something.

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><p>Meatlug had Toothless' tail in her mouth as she dragged him out of Hiccup's house. He writhed, growling and clawing the ground, trying to crawl back to the house. Meatlug marched out, towing Toothless along, drawing stares from Dragons perched on the rooftops and some of the Vikings.<p>

"Let go of me! I want to go back inside!"

"You've been in there for weeks already."

"It's too bright!"

"The Sun'll do you some good, 'hun."

"No! Let go of me!"

He'd gone into a self-imposed exile after seeing Stormfly with the other Nadder, or 'it' as he so fondly called him, and had stayed holed up there for three weeks, long enough to calm down but he hadn't gotten over it completely.

Meatlug sighed as she trotted forward, barely noticing as Toothless flapped his wings, trying to fly back. It didn't work. She growled, her mouth full of Toothless' tail, "You won't ever do any good inside that house."

"What's the use?" he cried out, crashing back to ground as Meatlug jerked her head. He cleaned his head of a bit of dirt and growled, "Did you see the way she was snuggling with it? Did you see how it fed her? Disgusting."

"Didn't she do the same thing to you?" Meatlug asked without looking back. Toothless flew back up and latched onto a hut's arch roof, his claws scratching out white furrows as he was pulled away. She said, "And anyways, she's still your friend, isn't she?"

She met a little resistance as Toothless hooked his claws on the edge of the roof, and promptly jerked her head, dislodging Toothless and making him crash into a flying Zippleback, making both squawk in surprise. He crashed back to ground and Meatlug continued pulling nonchalantly. "If you were a good friend you'd be happy for her."

Toothless snarled, baring his teeth.

"Very scary. Now, as I was saying before you started whining, Stormfly's new friend isn't leaving anytime soon, that's for sure, so we might as well get to know him."

"What!?" Toothless exclaimed. "We're going to see him? Nope, nope, I'm out, I'll just go back and curl up for the next few months."

"Uh-uh, 'hun, you are _not_ running away."

"Ow, ow, ow! Watch the tail! You'll tear the sail if you bite so ha-" His voice shot up several octaves as she crunched down.

"That's better. Now, she said they'd be outside the big house, an-n-nd right over ther

Toothless paled when he saw them. They were seated calmly on the grassy patch outside the Great Hall, Hookfang, Stormfly and the Nadder. Hookfang was talking to the Nadder, raising his wings and showing off his many 'trophy' scars, while Stormfly looked on, smiling softly.

"Oh no, if you bring me up there I swear I will-"

"Stormfly! Hookfang! Look who I brought!"

_Oh no_. They all turned to look. Stormfly's face lit up and she stood up, calling, "Toothless! Where have you been?"

He began to turn around when Meatlug bit his tail harder, growling, "Come on! You're her friend!"

Toothless snarled, baring his teeth.

"Ok, at least pretend to be friendly to him."

Meatlug dragged him up the stone steps up to the Great Hall and deposited him, along with a rather bruised tail, in front of them.

The Nadder raised an eyebrow. "So, this is the great Toothless. I have to say you were right Hookfang, he _is_ a bit short."

The Nadder was intimidating up close, larger than Stormfly who was already taller than Toothless. His scales were a deeper shade of blue with the yellow of his wings more orange-red than yellow. His voice was like smooth water, deep and melodious yet gravelly at times. He leant in and smelt Toothless' scent, part of how Dragons usually greeted strangers, but instead of baring his throat in a vulnerable fashion, he loomed over Toothless, growling, "You know, I once ate a yak larger than you."

Toothless drew himself up to his full height and looked up at the Nadder. "Well, you're welcome to try with me."

He was itching to fire a bolt of blue flames into it's scales. The Nadder growled deeply, before Stormfly laughed, "That's another thing about him, he has such a flair for the dramatic."

The Nadder sat back next to Stormfly, chuckling, "Only when you're around to impress."

Stormfly nipped his chin playfully and turned to look at Toothless. "Where have you been? Anyways, this is Hingejaw, he acts tough but he's a real sweety. Hingejaw, you know Meatlug."

Meatlug smiled to the Nadder and planted herself next to Stormfly.

"And this is our own little celebrity guest, Toothless!"

Hookfang caught Hingejaw's attention. "Now as I was saying, this long scar is from a Timberjack. Took me a bit of manoeuvring not to get sliced up."

"That sharp?" Hingejaw asked.

"Sharper. Anyways, how about you? I'm sure a suave Dragon like you has a few," Hookfang cleared his throat. "_Trophies_, ya' naw' wha' I'm sayin'?"

Dragon mating was, for lack of better words, dangerous and violent, complete with love bites and scratches, usually on the bellies. Scars and wounds were extremely common, even the odd dismemberment here and there. Toothless wondered, however, if Hookfang had really gotten all his scars from that, after all, his advice on relationships and flirting seemed quite strange.

"Well, in fact I have quite a collection…" Hingejaw began. Stormfly gave a snarl, smiling and growling at the same time.

"… uh, nah, I don't have too many. However," he looked down at Stormfly and nibbled one of her crown spikes. "I'm looking to add a few."

She giggled.

Toothless made eye contact with Hookfang, who seemed impressed, and made a disgusted face.

"So, how about you, Toothless?"

He turned to face Hingejaw, smirking at Toothless. "Where are your scars? A famous little lizard like you, don't expect me to believe you haven't had luck with females."

Toothless could tell from the mocking tone that they were going to have a wonderful friendship. He kept his smile plastered on and was trying to find something curt to retort, but Meatlug saved him. She said, "Toothless? Oh, he just saving himself for the _right_ girl."

Hingejaw loomed closer, tilting his head so he looked at Toothless with only one golden eye. "I wonder who this right girl is? Of course, she'd have to be smart, funny, same species and- oh wait, there _are_ no more Nightfuries besides you, sorry about that."

Toothless thought to himself, _Say that again and see what happens. _Instead he laughed, "No worries, I'm a very patient waiter."

Hingejaw tilted his chin proudly. "Hm. How about you, Meatlug? You saving yourself too?"

"Oh definitely, 'hun, 'Imma be just waiting for the right boy to come along," she sighed dreamily. "Someone big and hunky and strong and BIG!"

"Well," Stormfly joked. "I'm glad I found Hinge first."

As they all shared a laugh Toothless forced out a chuckle that sounded like a dying animal. Thankfully they didn't seem to notice.

When the two of them flew off they were so close they kept on bumping their wingtips together. Immediately once they were out of earshot, Toothless growled to Hookfang and Meatlug, "I don't like him."

"And he don't like you!" Hookfang pointed out. "But besides the whole 'Alpha Male' act he had with you, he's a pretty chill guy."

"You're supposed to have my back!"

"Well you have to admit he's smooth, I'm starting to see why Stormfly's with him."

Toothless made a face and stamped around the grass, avoiding the imprint of flattened grass that Hingejaw had left. "He's bad for her, I'm telling you! You see the way he looks at her like she's some… some sheep he's stalking! How can she not notice?!"

He cringed and jumped away as he felt a sharp pain in his tail. He whirled around and saw Meatlug there. "Can you stop doing that!?"

"You need to calm down, 'hun. And don't you prejudge Hinge!" she replied sassily. "Maybe Stormfly likes is this way?"

Toothless made another face. "Are you serious? You know Storm better than me, would she want something like this?"

"I said 'maybe', and it's pretty obvious why he don't like you?"

"It is?"

Even Hookfang seemed to know. He chuckled, "Oh sweet, naïve brother, let me tell it to you straight. Our new friend 'Jaw thinks you're making a move on his girl."

"Or he could just hate me."

"Meh, that's one way of seeing it. But look on the bright side, it means he's scared enough to be an asshole to you."

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><p>So, as many of you know, all my stories have heavy influence from the Inheritance Series, a four book series, so a Quadrilogy? Tetralogy? Well, anyways, it's a series of four books written in beautiful detail about a boy, Eragon, who finds a Dragon Egg in the woods and when it hatches the Dragon, Saphira, bonds with him, making him the latest Dragon Rider. Problem is the Dragon Rider's Order has been exterminated years ago by a crazed, maniacal Dragon Rider King named Galbatorix. The series focuses on Eragon's journey as the new Dragon Rider and Saviour of the People and his journey to overthrow Galbatorix. What makes this series special is how it details both a beautiful fantasy world long past its golden age and also focuses on Eragon's personal life as responsibilities and expectations are heaped upon him. A great series, if you haven't read it yet then you should, like really, right now.<p>

And on a side note, I've decided to pick up a fourth language, _el Español_, so without further adieu, _Adiós, todos mis amigos_.


	4. Moping Around

So, Chapter _tres_ is out, and before anything else I want to clarify the time period. This is set some time before the events of How to Train Your Dragon 2 and just before the Gift of the Night Fury, which I will cover in one of the future chapters hopefully. Go right on ahead my friend, and read this latest chapter of mine.

* * *

><p>Of course Toothless tried to avoid both Hingejaw and Stormfly, and of course he couldn't. They kept on appearing everywhere he looked, cuddling on rooftops, cuddling on the bluff, on the cliff, the courtyard even.<p>

Toothless really couldn't place what she saw in Hingejaw. He must be at least ten years older than either of them, his claws were worn from too many battles and though he tried to hide it, Toothless had glimpsed the hundreds of scars that crisscrossed his belly. And the way he acted when Stormfly had her back turned, he reminded Toothless faintly of Hookfang but less of a harmless fool and more of brazen and thuggish, snarling at other Dragons who got too close and even attacking one who happened to glance at Stormfly as she left.

Astrid, probably one of two level-headed two-legs, was of no help at all, in fact she was ecstatic and encouraged Stormfly. Hiccup wasn't much use either, it seemed he was much more concentrated on avoiding his father, the big two-legs with the facial mane, and bringing Toothless flying. Not that he didn't enjoy their flights, it was just that they didn't really help his situation with Stormfly.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

Hiccup, still looking very awkward and gangly, was sitting on the edge of his bed in the dimly lit room, adjusting his metal foot. A hopelessly inept contraption, it didn't even give him any claws or barbs, but it allowed him to walk.

"You feeling down lately?"

"I'm glad you noticed," Toothless said, looking away. Of course the human didn't hear anything more than a rather sarcastic sounding growl.

"Hey, Toothless, I got a perfect idea. Do you know what will cheer you right up?"

Toothless warbled aloud, "_That's right, buddy, flying!"_

"That's right, buddy, flying!"

_Ugh. _It was just about the fifteenth time that week and third time that day. His father must be looking for him again. Flying was amazingly fun and all but he just wasn't in the mood.

Hiccup got up and staggered over, before lunging and grabbing Toothless' neck, trying to wrestle him to the ground. He laughed, "Come on, vile Dragon! Face me so you can watch me vanquish you!"

Toothless sighed sadly, looking out the window, the afternoon light out there stinging his retinas. There they were again, cuddling literally metres from the house. He suspected Hingejaw did this on purpose.

Hiccup eventually got tired of wrestling with Toothless' immobile neck and began to scratch him behind his ears. "You tired today buddy? Want to call it a day?"

He sighed back, "I'm not really tired, it's just that, just look out the window!"

"What's the matter, buddy?"

"I told you, just look at them out there, cuddling and smooching and, ew, that looked really wrong."

"What are you looking at? Do you want to go outside? Let's go outside."

Sigh. "Typical two-legs."

Hiccup got onto Toothless' back and craned his neck around to look out the window. "What're you looking at out there? Oh, that's Stormfly isn't it, and… who is that? Hackjaw? Jackdaw? Hingejaw! They look happy, don't they?"

Toothless warbled, "Oh, soooo happy. Just look at the way he licks her like a bone, disgusting."

"Oh, it's because of her isn't it?"

"Yes! Finally, you understand!"

"Is that what's wrong? You want to be outside with them?"

"Aaand you don't understand. Great."

Hiccup laughed, "That's why, isn't it? Come on, buddy, we'll go outside for awhile."

Toothless sighed sadly, shaking his head. "Hopeless."

* * *

><p>Hiccup eventually gave up and left the house on his own, probably going to find some other two-legs to avoid his father with. Toothless sighed and looked morosely at the door, clicking his claws against the wooden floor with each passing second.<p>

A pang in his stomach. He groaned in discomfort and rolled over, rolling up slightly. Dragons can, in theory, survive for months without food. They _can _but 'can' doesn't always mean 'want to' or 'like to'. He contemplated going out to find a fish or two before slinking back in, but Stormfly and Hingejaw were still out there.

At that moment the door was cracked open. Toothless sat up, ears perking up, before a crimson and black mottled head poked in. "Hey, brother! Wha' 'cha doing holed up here?"

Toothless cocked his head. "This is like, my second home you know? Why are you here?"

"Oh, you know." Hookfang slid his body through the seemingly tiny doorway, quite a feat, and jumped up to the rafters where he coiled around them. "Stormfly's preoccupied, Meatlug's off looking for her own 'hunky lovecake' after seeing our friend so happy with Hingejaw, and I might have dumped Snotlout in the sea a few miles out."

Toothless' jaw dropped. "What? You aren't afraid something'll eat him?"

"Nah, nothing's _that_ stupid. Anyways, why aren't you outside? I was looking for you, man."

Toothless crossed his front legs on the ground and laid his chin on them. "You know, just unwinding here."

Hookfang hung his long neck down and glanced out the window. "Oooo, they're right outside. Harsh. You still breaking your back over her?"

He didn't answer, simply swatted his tail from side to side, the metal fittings and the sail clinking against the wood.

Hookfang said, "Come on! Life's too precious to waste it stuck in this place! So what if she's not falling for someone else?"

"But look at that someone else!" Toothless glanced back out the window and his eyes met those of Hingejaw, looking back. As he ducked back down hurriedly, he hissed, "Look at him! He looks so… I don't even think I've seen him here before! I think he's a wild Dragon!"

"Well maybe Storm likes the wild side. But that's beside the point!" Hookfang stated firmly. "I know if I left you here you'd never go out there for a few months at least."

"I was actually planning one or two years."

"I won't watch my tightest brother die in a two-leg hut because of one Dragon! You can't live like this! Go out there, find a nice girl, make it work! You're famous, dammit, only Nightfury-"

Toothless sighed at the reminder.

"-and the one of two who united the two-legs with us. That counts for something! Trust me! If you asked them they'd chant your name through the streets!"

He shook his head, "Very funny."

Hookfang's turn to sigh. "Whenever I pick up a new girl, you know what the first thing they say is? Let me tell you," he cleared his throat and put on an amusing falsetto. "Oh! You're that one Dragon, the one who's always with the Nightfury! You're Toothless' friend!"

Toothless looked up slightly. "For real?"

"For real, bro, the chicas love you! If you asked them to they'd carry you on their backs everywhere, flying, walking, whatever!"

Toothless scoffed, "I'm sure."

Hookfang sighed in exasperation now. "You know what?" his tail coiled down and propped open the doors. "I know this Sand Wraith chick, her Rider's some grubby two-legs but she's really sweet. Walk out those doors and I'll bring you right to her and I GURANTEE, you'll be having someone to keep you company by the end of it."

Toothless stood up, unsure. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, man," he replied. "Call it a favour, I know you'd do me a solid anytime."

"Now uh, some notes before you talk to her."

* * *

><p>Toothless clung to the side of a tall pine with his claws, Hookfang curled around the one besides. The Sand Wraith was on the ground below them, digging out a shallow trench between a clump of trees. The Nightmare seemed to tick off a mental list as he said, "Her name's Deevale, exotic right? She likes digging, mutton, and she dislikes swimming, wildflowers, and sing-a-longs."<p>

Toothless kneaded the wood under his claws nervously. "Why don't you just come introduce us to each other?"

"Well, uh, about that."

Toothless glanced at Hookfang as he explained sheepishly, "She might get a bit clingy, just a tad bit," he added quickly. "Nothing to worry about."

"And you know this because…?"

"You know that one scar I said I got from a Sand Wraith? Yeeeaaah…"

Toothless raised an eyebrow. "So you're giving me second-hand goods?"

"Call it slightly used. Now go get 'er, man!"

Toothless kicked off the tree, gliding softly down in controlled manoevers, silently alighting behind her, his wings kicking up clouds of fallen leaves. He exhaled, calming his nerves, before putting a smile and strutting forward. "Deevale, is it? My names Toothle-"

He ducked down as a clump of dug up dirt flew through the space where his face had been. The Sand Wraith turned around and gave a gasp, "Oh! It's you! I'm so sorry but I tend to dig a lot and I didn't know you were there and-"

He chuckled nervously, "It's fine, totally fine."

Sand Wraiths looked disturbingly like Night Furies, their orange and brown striped bodies were gerally the same shape but their wings were shorter and short, stubby backward facing spiked scales ran along her wings and tail, a crown of short spikes behind her head.

Deevale sat back and smiled, _Hookfang was right, she is cute_, and stammered, "I-It's you! I mean I don't know you but I know you! You're Toothless!"

He smiled. "Last I checked, yeah."

"Oh this is so awesome." She gave her head and neck a shake and a shower of dirt flew off. When she looked back and smiled she looked disturbingly like a reflection of him, albeit spikier and smaller. She said animatedly, "There's this amazing spot down by the stone hill, you know the place? It is a _gh-reat_ stalking spot, deer everywhere! Come on, I'll show you!"

_Well, that was easy. _She immediately went to his side and goaded him deeper into the forest. As she did she continued to say animatedly, "You know, when everyone sees us they'll be so jealous of me, I'm with a Night Fury? Can you imagine? You smell nice, is that coal? Smells almost like-"

Deevale stopped in her tracks, her eyes popping out her skull as she stared at Toothless. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

She began sniff him, running her snout along his sides, tickling him. "Woah, what are you doing? Nope, nope don't go down there-"

She immediately pushed her face up against Toothless', hissing, "You smell like him! The Nightmare! Where is he? He's here isn't he? Is he watching?"

This Dragon seemed a bit more than 'clingy'. She roared into the forest, "Fang-Fang! Where are you? Mommy's coming for you!"

That sounded so wrong on so many levels. Toothless began to back up surreptitiously, before she whirled around and affixed him there with an accusing stare. "You! You have his scent! Where is he? Tell me! Where's my Fang-Fang!"

She spread her wings and burst towards him as he turned and began to lope away, back towards the village, hearing the sounds of crashing bushes, snapping branches and Deevale screeching, "Where is my Fang-Fang!?"

* * *

><p>"Well I warned you she was a bit clingy."<p>

Toothless threw himself onto the floor of Hiccup's hut, his tongue hanging out and panting hard. He managed to say, "You… you…"

"I thought she'd have forgotten about me, it was one night nearly a year ago." Hookfang glanced out the window hurriedly, the clearly visible orange-brown blur of a Sand-Wraith soaring over the village screeching, "Where are you! Let me love you!"

Hookfang hurriedly covered up the window with a wing. "Whew, at least now I know that she isn't up on the market."

Toothless propped himself up on the bed. "That… I… next time, try not to hook me up with someone crazy."

Hookfang jerked one eyebrow up. " 'Next time' huh? Is my favourite Night Fury still up for the challenge?"

Toothless panted hard thrice, before nodding slightly.

"That's the way, man! I know this Grapple Grounder, likes it rough, she likes to go down by the cave stables to-"

A screech from outside, "Hookfang! Let me love you!"

Toothless panted, "Why not… we just stay here for the moment?"

Hookfang glanced out the window and shut it in an instant. "Agreed."

They waited in silence for a few moments, before Hookfang asked, "Is she still uh, calling me Fang-… Fang?"

Toothless nodded.

"We'll be here for a while."

* * *

><p>Chapter 4 done! Any suggestions about directions my story can take or how to improve it are always welcome, please lay 'yo criticism upon this soul. Until the next chapter, my friends!<p> 


	5. New Winter

Woohoo, Barf and Belch are here. This foreword will be longer today, same as how this chapter is longer, so you're free to skip on right ahead to start reading the fic.

Shout out to trystrike, first person I could find who had a Stormless fic: The story of Toothless and Stormfly. His story is just about the biggest inspiration I have, his story has a great plot and, and I am really sorry because no matter how I tried my story kept on ending up following his storyline so to trystrike, I beg your forgiveness. I highly suggest you read his story if you haven't already because it is amazing._  
><em>

And with that ends this freakishly long foreword, and I invite you now to read this latest chapter.

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><p>Barf and Belch stood perched upon a snow coated roughhewn stone statue of a Viking warrior, each head taking turns to nip at passing two-legs. Toothless was lying on the edge of one of the huts ringing it, Hookfang on another and Meatlug on a third.<p>

Barf, the sister of the relationship, rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me about 'easy'. I have to live with this cancerous growth on my neck, I think it's learning to speak, oh wait, that's you, Belch."

"You make the funny," Belch growled, before snapping at another passing Viking, clipping his horned helmet. The two of them looked almost identical but there were differences, minute ones but still differing. Barf had a more curved horn upon her round snout and was a lighter shade of green, Belch had longer fangs that poked out near the front while Barf's protruded near the back. The two of them had been off for weeks since Ruffnut and Tuffnut rode them out for some strange plot that involved a giant cask of mead being dropped from fifty metres up onto the courtyard in the middle of the village. It didn't work so well, the cask nearly killed three two-legs, a Dragon, and flooded the courtyard with mead that took the rest of the day to clean. Even now, the place smelt slightly of honey.

Hookfang tapped his claws against the roof's wooden beams. "I was wondering, since both of you share the same body how do the uh, _parts that don't see the Sun_ work? Do you have one or the other or both or what?"

Toothless shuddered, shaking off a coat of snow that had settled on his back, and grimaced as Belch began, "Oh it's actually very interesting. You see most Zipplebacks are either male or female, but we're mixed, so naturally it's also a mix down there and-"

"Urgh," Barf growled. "Typical boys, disgusting. What he meant was that it's like they got blended together in a bloody churning mill of flesh and scale and bile, our bodies settled on -"

"Let me stop you there before I throw up," Meatlug hurriedly said.

The days had only gotten lazier as Winter began to creep in, the short fleeting moments of rich Sunlight were replaced by soft snow eternally drifting down upon Berk. Toothless shook off a new layer of snow and gave his freezing wings a few short flaps to shake off the frost. Hookfang was having no problems with the cold, whenever too much snow got on his scales he just spat a glob of his flammable green saliva on it and ignited it.

Meatlug watched another Gronckle float past, sighing, "I wonder where Stormfly is? I haven't seen her or Hinge for days."

Toothless wasn't complaining about it. The first few days of their absence he'd been cautiously slinking to the ground, looking around corners just in case they were there, once he realised that they were off doing gods know what he had felt a jolt of energy. He felt so free now, as if something had been squeezing his lungs all this while.

He rolled over and lay on his back on the roof, sprawling out his wings and letting the cool snow coat his warm belly. He stuck out his tongue and caught a snowflake on the tip.

Belch looked up as Barf snatched a basket from a passing two-legs. Belch asked, confused, "Let me get this straight, Stormfly's dating a wild Dragon, ten years older than us?"

Barf scowled as she realised the basket she'd stolen was filled with berries and flung it to the ground, the red berries scattering across the snow. Belch continued, "This _is_ the same Stormfly we all know right? The innocent, carefree, fun loving little lass who Toothless is hopelessly crushing on?"

Toothless growled softly. Barf raised her head as Belch nipped at the heels of marigold coloured Hobblegrunt flying by. Barf said, "Well I for one am proud of her! Good on her for finding a mate so early on."

"Oh please," Meatlug scoffed. "He's hardly a mate. She's young, it's probably just a phase."

"Well that's the good thing about being the female of a couple," Barf chirped cheerfully. "When you get tired of him, you can always eat him."

Toothless shared a short laugh with them. Without Hingejaw's thick skulled presence hovering around it felt so much better here, he was actually beginning to enjoy the dozens of different dates Hookfang set him up with every day. Quite frankly he was surprised that Hookfang hadn't run out of possible dates for him.

Hookfang shot a tiny bolt of fire, melting off some snow on his back, He turned back to Barf and Belch and began, "Now that Stormfly's taken, I, being the amazing bro I am, I've been helping Toothless get back on his feet with the ladies."

Belch gave a laugh and he said, "That's gotta be fun to watch."

"Well maybe," Toothless replied. "It would be easier if you didn't introduce me to the crazy ones."

"Oh please, that was just the Sand Wraith, and the Speed Stinger, and the Tide Glider, maybe the Whispering Death."

"And the Screaming Death. Don't forget the Hackatoo either," Toothless added.

"What are you talking about? That Hackatoo was chill."

"_That Hackatoo_ wasn't a female."

Hookfang stared in horror at him. "But she… when I… oh god."

He chuckled as Hookfang came to grips with the new information. As Barf and Belch continued their game of biting and/or stealing things from passerbys, Meatlug continuously craned her neck around and kept looking away. Barf asked, "Something wrong?"

Meatlug growled, "I'm seriously getting worried. Stormfly doesn't just disappear like this. We should have gone looking for her long ago."

"She's fine," Toothless growled. "She's got that _Hingejaw_ to keep her safe."

"From what I hear," Barf said coyly. "This Hingejaw character sounds rather dashing."

"Ugh, please don't start," Belch hissed as he looked back up at his conjoined sister. "Remember last time you found a guy? Remember how well that worked out?"

Barf hissed, "Then next time keep your head down and try to be quiet! It's a bit of a turn off for a guy when his date's brother keeps on looking over her shoulder when they try to fu-"

"Get up."

Meatlug slid off her roof and hovered over them. She called to the three other Dragons, "Get up now! We should have gone to find them long ago!"

Barf nodded enthusiastically while Belch whined, "Come on! We just got back like an hour ago!"

Barf hissed, like literally hissed with the whole snake-tongue out act, "She's our friend! We're going!"

Hookfang stared blankly ahead, muttering, "So if she was a he… what the hell…"

Meatlug flew over to Toothless and said, "Come on! We're going to find her!"

Toothless growled, "No! She doesn't need us, remember? Hingejaw's got her 'safe'. She's perfectly 'safe'."

Barf and Belch were trying to take flight now, but it seems they were having coordinating their body. One wing was flapping, the other folded up adamantly, on set of legs were pushing off against the snowy statue, the other was clinging onto it. Barf screeched, "Get up you fat, lazy tumor!"

Belch pushed his head into the statue and pretended to sleep, mumbling, "Five more minutes."

Meatlug began to circle around Toothless and he asked suspiciously, beginning to turn, "What are you doing?"

"Persuasive techniques."

"Wait, don't don't DON-," he let out a high pitched yelp and shot straight up into the air, flapping his wings panickedly to stay afloat.

"If you don't help me find Stormfly I'll make sure I bite that tail right off," Meatlug threatened.

"B-But I can't fly long without Hiccup!" Toothless protested, flapping awkwardly in space and reaching out with his claws for the roof's edge. Meatlug lunged forward and snapped her jaws, scarcely missing his feet.

She stated firmly, "You're flying with me, if you can't fly I'll carry you by your tail, and when your tail falls off I'll bite your legs instead, and when they fall off I'll bite something else to carry you."

Toothless shuddered as he struggled to stay airborne, swerving this way and that. He just couldn't control his flight without Hiccup to adjust the tail sail. Meatlug called to Hookfang, "Oi! Glassy-eyes, you coming?"

"Yeah… sure, just a moment," he replied quietly.

"Barf, Belch?"

Barf now had Belch's neck in her jaws, this goaded him enough to start cooperating. She said, with her brother's jaw blocking her mouth, "Can't say I'm not excited to meet this Hingejaw, say something did happen and maybe they're broken up, hypothetically, do you think he'd go out with me?"

"No."

"Oh shut up, Tumour."

* * *

><p>Stormfly was out on the bluff, the cliffside where she'd fed Toothless.<p>

In the Winter's first timid days the grass was all buried in a soft coat of white several inches high, thankfully, without Hiccup controlling his tail sail Toothless had crashed into the snow a dozen times before they stopped. The chorus of bugs and birds that usually filled the forests outside the village with a song of nature, but now it was silent with no song but the faraway Dragon roars and the whistling wind.

Toothless didn't realise it was her at first without a certain larger Deadly Nadder at her side, but Meatlug recognised her immediately, and stopped them immediately. Toothless leaned over her side and growled, "We've found Stormfly, you can go do whatever you want, but I've done what you said, I'm leaving!"

"I like this idea," Belch nodded enthusiastically.

Barf growled threateningly and Belch started shaking his head. "Nope, I think we should stay."

Meatlug hissed, "Shhhh, listen!"

Toothless listened and realised something, there was a new voice in this song. A hacking, choking sob. He noticed Stormfly's body shaking with each far away sob he heard. Meatlug sighed, "Oh dear, oh dear."

Barf shook her head sadly, while Belch amused himself by nibbling on one of his claws. Toothless glanced at Hookfang, Hookfang glanced back, and Meatlug continued to murmur, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…"

"What happened?" Toothless hissed to Hookfang.

"You tell me. She looks miserable."

Meatlug turned around, pushing them all back. "Okay guys, how about we all take a step back."

"Woah, wait, shouldn't we be helping her?" Toothless asked.

"What do you think we're going to do, genius?" Barf asked sarcastically.

Belch sneered, "Yeah! What do you think?"

"Actually, what Meatlug's going to do," Barf corrected, glaring at her brother.

"Awww."

Toothless grew angrier as he watched Stormfly cry. He snarled, "What did _it _do to her?"

Meatlug replied calmly, "Trust me on this, 'hun, we'll just give her a bit of time for her to cool off, maybe a few days, then I'll go and talk to her?"

She returned to watch Stormfly and sat down on a mound of snow to take up her vigil, the snow rising to her chin. Toothless shot a look to Hookfang behind Meatlug's back, trying to tell him something without words, just their expressions. It sort of went like this:

Toothless: Days? We should be helping her now!

Hookfang: Too true, man.

A moment of silence.

Toothless: So? Are we going to go or what?

Hookfang: Hah! You mean are _you_ going to go, right? I'm not good with this stuff.

Toothless: WHAT!? Don't you have experience?

Hookfang: WHAT'S WITH THE BROW WAGGLING? I've got experience picking them up, not so much with the emotional stuff.

Toothless: Are you being serious right now?

Hookfang: There's a reason I only stay one night.

Toothless rolled his eyes and when he looked back Hookfang jerked his eye brows up, jerking his head towards Stormfly. He could imagine what Hookfang was saying right now: Go on, you can do it, bro.

Toothless looked back at Stormfly, miserable on the edge of the cliff, shuddering with each racking cry. He barely hesitated before stepping around Meatlug and wading through the snow to Stormfly. He heard Barf gasping, Belch sniggering, and clearest of all was Meatlug hissing, "Toothless! Get back here!"

He didn't turn back as he trudged through the frost, the wind biting through his scales and chilling him through as he made his way across the clearing. Meatlug didn't seem willing to pull him back or stop him, maybe she was unwilling to disturb Stormfly.

Stormfly just looked even more miserable and depressed as he got closer, her back was hunched over and her face hidden between her wings, the shades of her scales discoloured under a thin layer of hoarfrost. Some distance behind her, as he crawled and the snow scrunched under his feet, her body stiffened up, her back straightened up and she glanced back before hiding her face again.

When she spoke her voice was sore from too much crying, alternating high and low, she tried to hide it as she choked up but it was clear she was still crying hard.

"Hey, Toothless, I… I didn't see you there."

Toothless cautiously, planting himself next to her in the snow. She had her face hidden behind her blue and yellow wings and she tried to hide the way she shook. He leant in and whispered, "You okay?"

Stormfly wrapped her wings right around her head, trying desperately to keep her tone level. "Y-Y-Yeah, perfectly fine."

She sounded like she was sick too. Toothless inched a bit closer, cooing quietly, "Put down your wing and let me see your face."

"N-No, the Winter isn't too good for my scales. It messes with the colour and… and it…"

Stormfly began to sob softly again. Toothless quietly pleaded, "Come on, put your wing down."

She shook her head under her wings, then something dripped down from the bottom tip of her wing. Toothless' eyes widened as he realised what it was, a speck of dark that melted a little crater in the snow. Blood. She was bleeding.

Toothless felt hatred, anger, fury. His eyes slanted at the blood, he could imagine flesh being sheared under his claws, bones splintering against his strength, screams as his flames melted skin and muscle together. He growled, "Who did this? Tell me! I'll make him pay in blood."

Stormfly's wings were shaking now as she lowered them. Toothless growled quietly as he saw the wound from where the blood fell. A long red scar going all the way from the base of her neck up to the curve of her chin, straight across her collarbone, blood steadily trickling down her neck, her tears carving a line across the sheet of red. He realised that his lip had curled back over his teeth, baring them.

She met Toothless' eyes for an instant before her lower jaw began to quiver again and she looked away, crying. He snarled, "Who did this? I'll kill them, I'll make sure they die in pain."

Stormfly didn't answer but he already knew.

* * *

><p>This chapter measures up at 2'500 words, my regular ones only reach an average of 1'800 to 1'900 for easy and comfortable reading without huge masses of words. Leave me a review on what you thought of this chapter, whether you like the longer chapters and I BEG YOU TRYSTRIKE, FORGIVE ME, PLEASE.<p> 


	6. Cold, cold love

Well, it's been a long time, no doubt. I'm not going to tire you all out with a long winded explanation on my hiatus before you even start reading this chapter so I'll leave it to the end. Without further adieu, here is the long awaited, and long overdue, chapter promised to you.

* * *

><p>Toothless turned away from Stormfly, filled with so much rage, fuming with each misty breath he exhaled. He spread his wings and with strong strokes he shot into the sky, the snow and ice pattering against and sliding off his scales and wings.<p>

He faintly heard voices, nearly lost behind the soft falling white snow. He didn't care, he only wanted to find Hingejaw and make him pay, make him bleed, make him roar in pain and beg for forgiveness.

His eyes narrowed on the shadows of distant dragons circling over the shape of Berk far away in the snow. He growled to himself, feeling the fire rising up his throat already, the heat melting the snow that stuck to his scales into slush.

"Toothless! Stop!" Hookfang's voice roared from behind. Toothless didn't even glance back, instead he tried to fly in a straight line, shaking his tail in irritation as his metal tail sail didn't open.

"Hey! Bro, wait!"

Hookfang's voice called out to Toothless again, followed by a voice that wasn't as concerned.

"YOU BLOODY IDIOT! COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT OR I'LL GUT YOU MYSELF AND SPILL YOUR INNARDS FOR THE FISHES!"

That would be Barf. She sounded angry.

"HELP ME! SHE'S CRAZY!"

And that was Belch. The two of them were fast, Hookfang as well, but Toothless was faster. Would be faster if his damn tail sail would open. He could already feel his body being batted around by the freezing winds, his path unsteady without his sail to steer him. He snarled in anger and shook his tail roughly, making the sail open and close freely. He growled to himself, "Bloody useless."

He could already feel it, the heat of Hingejaw's blood as he sunk his claws into the Nadder's side, the bone sliding under his grip.

A strong sea gale blew into his side, sending him veering off to one side. He furrowed his brows and beat his wings desperately, trying to correct his flight, then another gust blew in from the other side, sending him careening away straight into a snow drift.

Toothless flailed in the pile of snow, trying to dig himself out, before claws wrapped around his legs and pulled him out, dragging him away from the snow drift.

He spat out a mouthful of snow and saw Barf and Belch in front of him, their green scales discoloured by the cold. Barf opened her jaws to let loose a torrent of insults as he turned and spread his wings to take flight again, but Hookfang was there, his black and red scales stark against the white snow, blocking the way with his long wings spread out.

Toothless snarled, "Out of the way! Move!"

Hookfang didn't move, instead he tried to calmly say, "Calm down, man, you need to chill."

Even without Barf's strings of colourful insults in the background he knew he would never calm down, not until he'd bled that monster.

Hookfang asked, "What do you even think you're going to do, huh? Kill Hingejaw?"

"Yes!"

"He's bigger than you!"

"I don't care!"

"He's got more experience than you!"

"I don't care!"

"You'll die!"

"I don't care. I don't care! I DON'T CARE!"

"No!" Hookfang beat his powerful wings once, showering Toothless with snow and dirt. Hookfang said with uncommon seriousness, "I won't let my best friend kill himself. I don't care what it takes," smoke began to bubble out slowly from his snout and the corners of his mouth, "you're not going after Hingejaw, understand?"

Toothless drew himself up as tall as he could and spread his own wings to make himself look bigger, still smaller than the larger Hookfang, and looked the Nightmare in the eyes, growling, "Think you can stop me? Think you can take me?"

Hookfang was much larger yet Toothless could see it in his ruby eyes, he was shaken by his friend's words, dripping with fury. They stared each other down, silently, smoke trickling out of the corners of their jaws, the only sound the screams of the wind and Barf's endless insults.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!" Toothless felt Barf and Belch's claws, actually only Barf's, latch onto him from behind and her voice screeching, "DON'T YOU DARE TRY AND RUN!"

She spun him around to face her and her brother, his half of the body was not cooperating with his sister's much. She narrowed her eyes at Toothless, her forked tongue shooting out for an instant as she hissed, "You insensitive little lizard, how can you even call yourself a Dragon?"

He tried to get up. "I don't have time for this! I need to-"

"YOU NEED TO SIT DOWN!" The claw on Barf's half of the body grabbed Toothless and shoved him into the snow roughly. "You're a heartless snake! You're a-an eel with wings!"

"I-"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU FUSTILARIC SCUM!"

"What does that even mean!?"

Barf glared at him. "You… I… You're so… so… ARGH!"

She sounded like she'd run out of words to insult him with. He glowered at her, "You're talking like _I_ was the one who bled Stormfly, the one who deserves to die!"

Barf opened her mouth again to let loose another river of debilitating curses but her brother, Belch, poked his head in and interrupted her. "Relax, sis! There's a lot of bad vibes going on here," his sister made a remark about tumours as he looked at Toothless earnestly, "Why not I explain what my sister seems to have a bit of trouble communicating to you?"

Toothless didn't say anything in response, instead he glared at all three of them silently, before tipping his head slightly to Belch. He nodded, almost in relief, and said, "Long story short, you're an insensitive little lizard."

"That doesn't help at all!"

"That's the short story," Belch reminded. "Long story goes like this. Stormfly's off in a bad way, this, Hingejaw is it? Yes, he was obviously close to her, and after he does something like this she's probably feeling betrayed, depressed, humiliated, shamed and in a lot of pain. Now picture this, the first person who comes to comfort her, her closest friend." Barf growled softly at her brother and he corrected, "Her closest _male_ friend, and she starts to hope, starts to think, _I knew you'd be there for me, I knew you wouldn't leave me_, and then he leaves her."

Toothless' disdainful snarl fell apart as Belch continued, "He goes off to do to Hingejaw what HIngejaw did to her, leaving her alone again. You got her hopes up and tore them away, how do you think she feels right now?"

Toothless groaned as he realised the truth of those words, the anger disappearing in an instant. He said sheepishly, "Probably… worse?"

"Obviously worse!" Belch exclaimed. He looked at him in shock, "We're her closest friends! _You're _her closest friend! You need to be there for her, you are the one she needs right now!"

Toothless groaned and hung his head, shaking it slowly and letting the snow slide off. "I'm so stupid! What do I do now? How do I fix this?"

Barf looked down on him with contempt, saying aloofly, "Isn't it obvious?"

* * *

><p>Stormfly looked down at the frozen creek's surface, her face reflected back at her in the blue ice and framed with snow. She inspected her image quietly, turning her head so only the left side was reflected, the ugly tear along her neck startling her. Meatlug had helped her wash off most of the blood but it didn't make it look much better.<p>

Meatlug, nearly buried in the high snow, grunted, "Don't worry too much, 'hun, it'll heal over."

"It'll scar," she pointed out.

"Scars fade," Meatlug said comfortingly. "Anyway, some Dragons like scars, you know?"

Stormfly stretched out her neck, scrutinising the cut anxiously. She sighed worriedly, "How am I going to face anyone ever again with this bloody… thing on my neck? What will I tell Astrid? What is she going to think about me?"

"You're overthinking all of this, 'hun," Meatlug said. "Just keep the cut clean, it'll get better, trust me."

She didn't feel very 'trusting' right now. Stormfly frowned and craned her neck around, trying to find an angle which hid the cut, a challenge considering how large and disgustingly conspicuous it was.

There was the soft sound of flapping wings, then the scrunching of snow, followed by an angry hiss, probably from Barf. Stormfly sighed and continued to inspect her reflection, soon enough more scrunching of snow, then Toothless sidled timidly up beside her.

He asked, cautiously almost, "Hey…"

Stormfly glanced at him passively, then turned to Meatlug on her left. She said softly, "Go and check on Barf, make sure she hasn't killed the boys yet."

Meatlug's expression became even more concerned, if that was possible. "Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"I'm sure."

Meatlug eyed Toothless suspiciously, before harrumphing and turning tail, walking away to a respectable distance with the others.

Stormfly returned to inspecting her reflection while Toothless sat next to her, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to another. She didn't even look at him when she said, "Go on then, I know what you're thinking."

He looked at her, confused. "Uh…"

She looked at him, upset, angry even, "Just do it, tell me you were right, I know you never liked him, tell me how wrong I was!"

Stormfly watched Toothless' face, looking as if he didn't know what to feel, but his impassiveness made her even angrier. She felt herself pulled out from her grey depression, snarling, "Tell me how wrong I was! Mock, laugh, say something! I don't care, say something!"

Toothless looked at her, his face a mix of unsure emotions, before he responded, "You've uh, you still got a bit of blood on your neck."

Stormfly glared at him, trying to keep the contempt on her face, trying to stay angry, but she felt a choking in her throat, her jaw began to quiver and she felt hot tears melting the frost on her cheeks into steam. She looked away, hung her head so he couldn't see as she forced out through her sobs, "You're _such_… an idiot…"

She didn't push him away when he shifted closer to her, she didn't shrug him off when he wrapped a wing around her to keep out the snow, she didn't move away when her tears stained his scales, she didn't say a word as she felt his warm, beating heart against her's.

* * *

><p>Wooh, the awaited chapter is awaited no more, hopefully it wasn't too much of a let down considering the long wait, I wasn't exactly at top condition when I wrote this so forgive any lapse in legible writing.<p>

As to my absence, it's simply because in my excitement to write the story something unprecedented happened, the story stopped 'clicking'. The parts stopped falling into place in my mind, the story kept splitting apart and growing in different directions but I couldn't make them _work_, you know? I just did a google search on the issue while I was writing this, #multitaskingskillz, and it seems I suffered from simple writer's block. Hopefully it won't happen again but _que sera sera_, whatever will be, will be.

Until next chapter then.


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